Epilogue

"Raul, what's got you grinning like that?"

"Hmh, well, just… something…"

— Myuli's letter, the one that had been waiting in his mailbox last night.

His fingers brushed lightly at the bandages on his still-half-healed right shoulder. Thinking back on that letter, which he'd reread more times than he could count, Raul felt his cheeks slacken into the dopiest smile.

"Did you find an ecchi book or something?"

… In that very instant.

Raul, mid-spit-take, lunged and grabbed Fino by the shoulders.

"H-hey, Fino! What the hell are you saying!!!!?"

"… Well, Raul, every time you found an ecchi book you'd haul it back in glee and stockpile it at your secret base in the hills behind your house, right? That's what Myuli's letter said…"

"M-Myuli's letter!?"

As Raul unwittingly parroted her back, Fino beamed.

"I don't really get what an ecchi book is, but it must be some kind of lucky charm where good things happen if you collect a bunch of them! Way to go, Raul!"

"Eh, ah, y-yeah! W-well, I mean…!"

Faced with Fino's guileless words, Raul found himself nodding along despite himself…

"… I'm disappointed in you, Raul Chaser."

The cold mutter Airi let drop behind his back sent him scrambling to change the subject.

"Wait, hold on, when did you two start a pen-pal thing without telling me!?"

"Hehe, Myuli is my junior, and my senior, and my friend, all at once!!!"

So saying, Fino dug an envelope out of her pocket… the one Myuli had sent her, matching the letter Raul had received. Holding it up like a trophy, Fino puffed out her chest.

"There's more, too. Every time Colonia potato came up on the school-lunch menu they wouldn't let you leave any on your plate, so you'd be stuck eating it through fifth period. And in swim class, you were the only one who forgot his swimsuit and had to swim the river in just his underwear, and that's how you got the nickname 'Pants Hero'…"

"Hey, stop, knock it off! Knock it off!!!!!"

"Raul Chaser…"

Airi turned a chilly look on Raul, who was on the verge of tears now, yelling away, and let out a sigh —

— And then.

The three of them suddenly sensed the storefront door open and looked up as one.

"Welcome!!!"

"… My, my."

… Glossy short-cut black hair, a well-proportioned figure wrapped in a navy suit.

The handsome woman of indeterminate age, accompanied by a man with hazel hair, stepped inside, swept her gaze across the shop's interior, and muttered to herself with a cold, blank expression.

"How shall I put this… I suppose this is what they call culture shock. To think a place like this could be a magic shop, just like ours… it's cramped, it's filthy, the merchandise all looks dated. For a moment I was quite sure this had to be a recycle shop."

"… A-and you are?"

… The opening salvo had the air of someone picking a fight.

As Raul, bristling instinctively, asked the question, Airi's eyes went wide beside him.

"Wha— A-Assistant Manager Karen!?"

"Oh my, if it isn't 'Complaint-Maker Airi.' … After you up and quit our company on us, this is where you've been hiding?"

"…"

Called by the inglorious nickname, Airi went tight-lipped, unable to answer.

Sparing the girl no more than a sidelong glance, the woman turned squarely toward Raul and, binder still tucked under one arm, spoke up with insolent politeness.

"My apologies for the late introduction. I am Karen Directory, Assistant Manager of the newly reopened Amada Magic, Royal Capital Store. And this gentleman is our newly appointed Manager…"

"… Cloud Patrick."

Hazel hair, hazel eyes.

The man who was apparently Amada's new Manager raised his head from a slight bow.

"—I'd like a word with this store's Manager."

Looking down imperiously over the inside of Magic Shop Leon, the man, an easy smile on his lips, made his pronouncement.